**LENIN COLLECTION**

1 This telegram is a response to a telegram from Sukhoparov of November 28, 1918 to the Council of People's Commissars with a request to suspend arrest and fine collection pending resolution of a complaint filed with the Council of People's Commissars. On Sukhoparov's telegram there is a note by V. I. Lenin: "to archive. Answered 28/XI" (Central Party Archive, Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Central Committee of the CPSU).

# LETTER TO A. G. SHLYAPNIKOV

29. XI
2. 1918

Dear Comrade Shlyapnikov!

I received your letter of 21/XI. I am receiving your telegrams, it seems, all of them, and I am helping. Do not be nervous. It will always be possible to fulfill only part of what is requested.³

You cannot travel abroad now. I am extremely sorry that you have fallen ill. You must rest and rest. Prepare yourself a group of deputies in case you still have to leave—but try to recover and remain longer. Greetings! Your Lenin

2/XII. Congratulations on the successes of the North Caucasus Army. Once more I ask you, do not be nervous. We can do little to help you now, but we will try to expand our assistance⁴.

Your Lenin

¹ At this time A. G. Shlyapnikov was chairman of the Revolutionary War Council of the Caspian-Caucasus Front.

² On this day V. I. Lenin did not send a letter, but informed A. G. Shlyapnikov by telegram that he was sending a letter by courier and forwarding all requests to the appropriate departments.

³ In his letter to V. I. Lenin of November 21, A. G. Shlyapnikov requested the dispatch to the Southern Front of 5,000 rifles, 20 guns, and other technical means, and emphasized the necessity for energetic support in connection with a possible threat from Turkey.

⁴ V. I. Lenin received information on December 2 of the successful offensive of the 11th (North Caucasus) Army from a telegram by the Front commander. On the same day V. I. Lenin inquires of V. I. Nevsky about what has been done regarding A. G. Shlyapnikov's request, who persistently demanded the dispatch of shunting and fast-moving locomotives to Astrakhan.

1917 (DECEMBER) — 1918

# DIRECTIVE TO THE SECRETARY

[1918, not before December 2]

Query the Chief Artillery Administration. Demand a **written** answer from it immediately.

Lenin

¹ Written on the telegram of the chairman of the Tambov Provincial Executive Committee and head of the Labor Department of the Provincial Soviet, with a complaint about the criminal inactivity of the Chief Artillery Administration with respect to the Tambov Powder Plant, concerning its utilization of high-value technical and economic equipment, and the improvement of housing conditions for workers.

In the text of the telegram, the words "Chief Artillery Administration" are underlined by V. I. Lenin.

# TELEGRAM TO A. G. SHLYAPNIKOV

[December 9, 1918]

Speed up your answer to my inquiries¹. Speed up obtaining things and the departure of my courier. Money and everything else is needed. Give the appropriate directive to Schmidt. He knows where to find the courier. It is necessary to arrive immediately. Shlyapnikov*.

Astrakhan

To Shlyapnikov

I have already sent you a telegram. A commission from the Supreme Council of the National Economy has departed for Astrakhan².

We are preparing the courier in the next few days.

Lenin

¹ See the present collection, page 110.

² Apparently, a commission from the Supreme Council of the National Economy was sent in connection with A. G. Shlyapnikov's letter of November 26, 1918, concerning the necessity of organizing the extraction and utilization of food and industrial resources of the Astrakhan region (see Lenin Collection XXI, pp. 140–141).

* On the telegram there is a note by V. I. Lenin: "to archive."